Gold and silver were losing ground Friday morning following Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s Thursday congressional testimony and Fitch downgrading Spain’s credit rating.

Spot gold was trading fractionally lower to flat, bid at $1,588 an ounce. The morning high reached $1,590.30, and the low $1,572.40, according to Kitco market data. The London afternoon reference price was fixed at $1,576.50, $29.50 an ounce lower than Thursday’s fix.

Spot silver was showing a 0.21% loss, bid at $28.53 an ounce. The morning high as of time of writing was $28.68, with the low reaching $28.03. Friday’s reference price fix of $29.17 was 11 cents below Thursday’s reference price.

Yields on Spanish government bonds rose and those on German bunds fell Friday in Europe as Fitch downgraded Spain’s credit rating. The country is expected to ask for bank aid this weekend.

Further signs of a weakening German economy emerged as German imports fell at their fastest rate in two years and exports fell more than expected.

Gold bullion fell as low as $1,561 an ounce in Asian trading Friday, down 4.8% on the week, before recovering somewhat in London morning trading, rising back above $1,580, BullionVault reported.

“Gold bulls were very disappointed by the Bernanke testimony yesterday,” BullionVault quoted Lynette Tan, investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore. “Bernanke gave few clues on QE3,” according to the latest note from Swiss precious metals group MKS, “and attributed much of the recent job weakness to seasonal factors.”

Gold and silver trusts were headed lower in U.S. stock exchange trading.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was showing losses of around 0.4%.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was down around 0.4%.
• The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) was down around 0.65%.

Gold and silver mining ETFs were higher on the morning thus far.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was up around 0.4%.
• The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was around 0.1% higher.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was up around 0.15%.

Gold mining shares were putting in a mixed performance to close out the week.

• Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) was up more than 1%.
• Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) was around 0.75% higher.
• Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO) was down around 3%.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was around 0.8% higher.
• Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) was down some 0.2%.
• Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) was showing losses of around 0.3%.
• NovaGold Resources (AMEX:NG) was up around 0.5%.
• Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) was around 1% higher.

Silver mining shares were broadly higher.

• Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE:CDE) was down around 1%.
• Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was around 1.5% higher.
• Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS) was trading around the unchanged level.
• Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) was around 0.6% higher.
• Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ:SSRI) was up between 0.6% and more than 1.2%.

As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of BullionVault contributed to this report.